Skip to main content

"Pro-corporate" Supreme Court order on FRA would further marginalize Adivasis

By VS Roy David, JP Raju*
For millions of Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers February 13, 2019 will go down in history as the day of apocalypse. This is like the proverbial Black Friday where millions of most marginalized people of India were ordered by malicious anti-people draconian Supreme Court order depriving them the life and livelihood by evicting them from their habitats.
Adivasi people much before the modern laws came into existence have been practicing a sustainable ecofriendly agriculture since times immemorial. The Adivasi lexicon had no concept of private property. Their land holding system was known as communal land holding system, which was egalitarian, democratic and gender just.
The Adivasi folks have been coexisting with forests and wildlife for thousands of years in a mutually liberating symphony and harmony. Each side recognized the natural rights of each other without causing any harm to each other. The British colonial masters with the stroke of pen, declared them encroachers in their own habitats.
The post-Independent period was also not so rosy for the indigenous people of India. Our own post-colonial rulers further marginalized them by not only continuing the draconian colonial forest Act. But also enacting a plethora of anti Adivasi laws like Wild Life Protection Act and Forest Conservation Act etc.
The destructive development path perused by the successive post-Independence governments has push them further into the brink of disaster. Scores of Adivasi mass movements have been protesting against the various Acts of dispossession by mega dams, industrial projects, mining projects, real estate projects, national parks and sanctuaries.
After years of tough and protracted struggle the Adivasi mass movements ultimately forced the Government of India to enact the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in 2006. In spite of this the forest bureaucracy, the corporate sector and various other vested Interest have been resisting to handover the title deeds of Forest land.
The sheer apathy and hostility of the forest departments of various state governments can be gauged from the fact that out of 22,87,225 claims received from Scheduled Tribe (ST) applicants, 6,60,388 claims were rejected. Then out of 6,84,485 claims received from other traditional forest dwellers 4,44,493 claims were rejected. In Karnataka total of 2, 27,014 claims were filled under FRA, from this 35,521 claims of Adivasis and 1,41,019 claims of other forest dwellers were rejected.
The final blow came that when Supreme Court on a spurious writ petition filed by irresponsible anti- Adivasi conservative NGO Wild Life First passed an unjust and arbitrary order for summary eviction of Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers whose claims have been rejected at various stages of processing.
It is a great tragedy that the Supreme Court instead of upholding the spirit of FRA went against it. We want to clearly state the fallacy of the rejection of FRA claims in the various stages of government departments. FRA clearly says that the Grama Sabha is supreme in deciding the claims under FRA. The clause 12-A of forest rights rules stipulate among other things the following:
  • Claims approved by Grama Sabha have to be sent back to it in case of objection by Government agencies and other.
  • In case of modification or rejection of a claim by the Grama Sabha as well as sub-divisional level committee the claimants have to be informed and given sufficient time to appeal against the proposed modifications and rejection. 
  • The sub-divisional and district committee could not take any decision on objection to any claims without hearing the claimants. 
  • No petition of the aggrieved person shall be disposed of without giving her/his a reasonable opportunity to present anything in support of claim. 
  • In cases where the resolution passed by the Grama Sabha recommending a claim is upheld by the sub- divisional level committee with or without modifications, but turned down by the district level committee, the district level committee shall record detailed reasons for not accepting the recommendation of Grama Sabha of sub-divisional level committee in writing a copy of the order of District level committee along with the reasons shall be made available to claimants or the Grama sabha or the community. 
  • Rule 12-A also clearly states that no committee (except the Grama Sabha or the forest rights committee) at the block or panchayat or forest beat or range level or any individual officer of any rank shall be empowered to receive claims or reject, modify or decide any claims on forest rights. 
The above provisions clearly indicates that none of the state governments have followed the genuine process of FRA, and also the Supreme Court has passed an extremely unjust and arbitrary order on February 13, 2019 to evict Adivasis and other forest dwellers.
All the adivasi mass movements, civil society organizations, political parties and other progressive and democratic Forces should come together and force the Government of India to pass an ordinance to nullify this unjust Supreme Court order.
---
*National Convener, National Adivasi Alliance, President, Budakattu Krishikara Sangha
Written as an appeal ahead of a meeting convened to discuss the issue at SCM House Bangalore, at 9.30 am on March 26

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Invincible, Modi 'taller' than BJP, RSS: An opportunity for Congress beyond 2024?

By NS Venkataraman*  With the announcement of poll schedule for the 2024 parliamentary election, there is palpable excitement and expectation amongst the countrymen  about the shape of things to happen in India after the  results of the election would be announced. There is also speculation abroad about the future course of developments in India.